Refugees from the war-torn Rwanda in 1994, Vedasee and Esperance would have been proud to see their son, Emmanuel Sebareme, perform in the role of opening bowler for Word Sports Betting Western Province against Northerns on Wednesday.

Sebareme is a second-year student in B.Comm at the University of the Western Cape, but he was born in a refugee camp outside Rwanda during the period in which a genocide was ripping the society apart in the African country. His parents fled to South Africa. It took them seven years to get here.

“I obviously did not know what was going on, because I was only very, very young, but I do know we had to beg for survival, wash cars, do other manual labour and ask friends for help to come by.

“We only got to South Africa in 2001,” he added.

“Now that I am in South Africa and reflecting on my early life, I always just want to play cricket to make my family proud,” Sebareme said.

He has a particular strong affinity with his mother, Esperance, and whenever he could give a part of his allowance to his family in Retreat and to his sister who is starting her studies, he will gladly do so, he says.

Sebareme said he has benefited at the University of Western Cape by joining the SportSkills 4LifeSkills initiative, and is aiming to complete his degree majoring in finance and information science, he added.

Salieg Nackerdien, the Western Province coach, was full of praise for the way Sebareme bowled in the build-up to the Africa T20 Cup, starting on Friday in Benoni where WSB Western Province and Namibia will gear up for the first match of the campaign.

“He bowled well at the start, and was truly fantastic in the middle part of the innings,” he said.

WSB Western Province and South Western Districts will do battle on Saturday 26th August and the WSB Province will clash with Easterns on Sunday 27th August.

Sebareme said he could speak four languages, a bit of Swahili, English, Xhosa and Afrikaans.

His major goal is to represent the WSB Cape Cobras and improve to even play for South Africa, all while keeping his family at the forefront of his aspirations, he said.

Sebareme performed the opening role in Pietermarizburg in 2016 as well, and according to Nackerdien, he was a standout-performer.​Asked about the role, the off-spinner selflessly says: “I will do whatever the team requires me to do, whether to open or bowl at the death. I like to perform under pressure,” he adds.